Bravo powers Red Force to top CT20

With 20,000 spectators crammed into the Queen’s Park Oval, T&T did not disappoint and put Guyana in their place with an emphatic 80-run victory in their fourth match of the Regional T20 cricket tournament on Saturday night.

As one spectator put it at the end of the game: “This T&T team too good for this tournament, they are the big boys playing with children.”

Another one chimed in: “Police should arrest (Keiron) Pollard and (Darren) Bravo for that licking they put on them Guyanese.” 

A partnership of 64 runs from 27 balls between Pollard and Bravo brought the house down at the Queen’s Park Oval and it was party time from that point. 

Bravo blasted an unbeaten 82 and Pollard an unbeaten 44 that took their team to 191 for four in their 20 overs—the highest score of the tournament this season.

After this onslaught, Guyana were left numb and limped to 111 for six in reply. Man-of-the-Match Bravo belittled Guyana’s bowlers en route to a sublime unbeaten 82 from 51 balls while Pollard turned up at the end to play a blinder, slamming an unbeaten 44 from a mere 17 balls.

Sent in by Guyana, T&T started shakily when they lost both openers cheaply with only 26 on the board in the fifth over.

Lendl Simmons (3) was brilliantly caught one-handed by wicketkeeper Derwin Christian, diving low to his left in the third over and William Perkins (8) was bowled by off-spinner Royston Crandon, backing away to hit through the off-side.

Darren Bravo and his brother Dwayne then combined in a 48-run, third wicket stand off 33 balls to revive the innings and lay the groundwork for the late assault, which duly came.

Bravo counted eight fours and four sixes and Pollard lit up the evening with five sixes and a four.

Guyana had a lame start to their run chase as the left-handed Trevon Griffith (1) skied to Perkins at cover at seven, in the third over.

Chanderpaul and Derwin Christian (9) added 36 off 31 balls for the second wicket but the partnership proved sluggish as T&T’s bowlers kept a lid on scoring.

Christian’s miserable 13-ball stay ended when he nudged a return catch to medium pacer Reyad Emrit (2-18) and the pressure also got to Ramnaresh Sarwan (2) who missed a wild swat at Emrit and was bowled at 53 for three in the tenth over.

Chanderpaul, who faced 50 balls and struck eight fours, found an ally in Deonarine (14) in a 34-run fourth wicket partnership but the stand was another pedantic one, consuming 32 balls.

This time, it was Chanderpaul who collapsed under the burden of the quickly expanding required run rate and he squirted off-spinner Sunil Narine to Kevon Cooper at point in the 15th over, after frustratingly missing reverse sweeps off the two previous deliveries. His departure signalled the end for Guyana.

The emphatic nature of T&T victory was a strong statement ahead of the second phase of the tournament in St Lucia starting Tuesday. After four matches, they are clear leaders on 13 points, with Jamaica second on nine points, and Windward Islands, Guyana and Barbados all on eight.

SCOREBOARD

T&T inns

L Simmons c wkp Christian b Barnwell    3
W Perkins b Crandon    8
DM Bravo not out    82
DJ Bravo c Jacobs b Deonarine    19
D Ramdin c Deonarine b Barnwell    20
K Pollard not out    44
Extras (lb4, w10, nb1)    15
TOTAL (4 wkts, 20 overs)    191
Did not bat: K Cooper, R Emrit, S Narine, S Badree, S Gabriel
Fall of wickets: 1-11 (Simmons, 2.4 overs), 2-26 (Perkins, 5), 3-74 (DJ Bravo, 10.3), 4-127 (Ramdin, 15.3)
Bowling: Barnwell 4-0-29-2 (w4, nb1), Jacobs 4-0-40-0, Crandon 2-0-19-1, Permaul2-0-25-0 (w1), Deonarine 4-0-41-1 (w3), Bishoo 4-0-33-0 (w2)

GUYANA inns
T Griffith c Perkins b Gabriel    1
S Chanderpaul c Cooper b Narine    53
+D Christian c & b Emrit    9
R Sarwan b Emrit    2
N Deonarine run out    14
C Barnwell c wkp Ramdin b Cooper    1
R Crandon not out    10
J Foo not out    10
Extras (lb6, w5)    11
TOTAL (6 wkts, 20 overs)    111
Did not bat: S Jacobs,     V Permaul, D Bishoo.
Fall of wickets: 1-7 (Griffith, 2.1 overs), 2-43 (Christian, 7.2), 3-53 (Sarwan, 9.3), 4-87 (Chanderpaul, 14.5), 5-88 (Barnwell, 15.1), 6-88 (Deonarine, 15.3)
Bowling: Gabriel 3-0-17-1 (w3), Narine 4-0-12-1, Emrit 4-0-18-2 (w1), Badree 2-0-18-0, DJ Bravo 4-0-28-0 (w1), Cooper 3-1-12-1
Result: T&T won by 80 runs
Points: T&T 4, Guyana 0.
Man-of-the-Match: Darren Bravo